After working with more than 30,000 primary school students over two decades, educator and Rhythm-Fitness co-founder Col Hatchman has noticed something surprising.

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"After 30,000 students, I've come to a fairly simple conclusion," he says. "Kids don't need more information. They need more reasons to participate."

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Hatchman didn't begin his career in education. As a professional musician, he spent years touring and recording, performing with Australian acts including The Screaming Jets, Nathan Cavaleri and Nat Col & The Kings. In 2006, he set a Guinness World Record for the "Loudest Drummer in the World."

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What he didn't expect was that some of the most rewarding moments of his career would happen in school halls rather than on stages.

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As Hatchman moved from performance into education, he began experimenting with ways to make students active participants rather than spectators. He created a series of large-scale student events known as Super Jams, bringing together increasingly large groups of young drummers in theatrical and unconventional settings. The events grew from more than 30 drum kits at the Playhouse Theatre in 2007 to 50 kits at the Civic Theatre in 2009, and eventually to events involving more than 200 drummers, aerial performers and community collaborations.

 

"I was fascinated by what happened when you put a lot of people into the same rhythm," Hatchman says. "You could see the room change. They weren't just performing together — they were responding to each other."

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That experience eventually led to the development of Rhythm-Fitness, which Hatchman co-founded with Molly Penrose. The high-energy participation program uses rhythm, movement and group synchronisation to bring entire year groups, and often entire schools, together.

Over the past two decades, the program has reached more than 30,000 students across metropolitan, regional and rural communities. Along the way, Hatchman has worked with students from every background imaginable.

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"People spend a lot of time asking how we get young people engaged," he says. "I think a better question is: how do we help them feel like they belong? Engagement usually follows."

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According to Hatchman, some of the most memorable moments happen when an entire year group experiences something together.

 

"There aren't many opportunities left where 80+ students are completely focused on the same thing at the same time," he says. "When a group starts moving, responding and succeeding together, something shifts. Scientists call it synchronisation. Teachers usually just call it a really good day."

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Hatchman believes the principle is hardly new.

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"Humans have been using rhythm, movement and shared experiences to connect for thousands of years," he says. "Schools are no different."

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Today, Rhythm-Fitness is known for transforming school halls into high-energy shared experiences where 80–100 students move, chant, drum and respond together. What begins as excitement quickly becomes focus, as entire year groups work in sync toward a shared goal. For a brief moment, the room stops feeling like a collection of individuals and starts feeling like a team.

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While the format has evolved over the years, the focus has remained remarkably consistent: creating moments where students move, respond and succeed together.

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"In my experience, participation comes before engagement," he says. "You don't build connection by talking about it. You build it by giving people something meaningful to do together."

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About Rhythm-Fitness

Rhythm-Fitness is the school-focused program of RhythmFit, formerly known as Drum Corp. For more than two decades, the program has brought rhythm, movement and shared participation into schools, reaching more than 30,000 primary school students across metropolitan, regional and rural Australia. Rebranded as Rhythm-Fitness in 2023, the program was founded by professional drummer and educator Col Hatchman and Canadian tap dancer Molly Penrose.

 

The program evolved from Drum Corp's long-running school workshops and large-scale community projects, including the Super Jams series, into contemporary school experiences focused on participation, connection, wellbeing and engagement.

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RhythmFit also delivers Teams & Events experiences for adults and organisations.